Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the person who stands up for Cordelia when her father disinherits her?

2. What does Kent give to the gentleman to show Cordelia?

3. Oswald and Kent meet in front of what structure?

4. Who protests punishing Kent without the King's consent?

5. Kent points out that there is a hovel nearby and asks the King to do what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is King Lear going to divide up his kingdom?

2. What does the letter Edmund has, that is supposedly from Edgar, say?

3. The Fool's ambiguous statements while he and Lear are wandering in the storm imply that the Fool thinks Lear is what?

4. What does the Fool compare Lear too?

5. What is ironic about Gloucester bemoaning that he was betrayed by his son?

6. When the Duke of Cornwall and Regan commiserate with Gloucester about his traitorous son, what do they suggest was the influence on Edgar?

7. When Kent meets with the gentleman on the heath, what does Kent give the gentleman and what is it supposed to do?

8. What request, by Goneril, drives the King to leave her house?

9. Why is King Lear dividing up his kingdom?

10. What are some of the steps Edgar takes to disguise himself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does King Lear portray service? Who serves? What sort of authority and relationships are related to service in the play? Does service, as used in the play, belong to family or to the state? Why? Please support your answer with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Shakespeare wrote this play centuries ago. Why is this play still relevant today? Are there any themes or messages in the play that are timeless and universal? Please use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

What character traits of King Lear appear in his daughters and how do these traits affect his relationships with his daughters? Use examples from the text to support your answers.